Locust Shell

A Locust Shell containing a Drone.

"The grubs' bodies were completely covered in that crystal shit -- pretty much indestructible. So they sealed 'em up and walked away."

—Sgt. Marcus Fenix

Locust Shells are nearly-indestructible crystalline casings formed by the Locust and other Hollow creatures following the detonation of the Imulsion countermeasure. The shells are composed of crystallized Imulsion, expelled from the Locust via exocytosis to prevent them from disintegrating after being exposed to the targeted radiation wave set to destroy cells colonized by Imulsion. This mechanism was genetically engineered by Dr. Niles Samson to ensure adaptation and survival of the Locust. These shells acted as a chrysalis for the Locust to hibernate while they evolved. The crystals protected the Locust from harm as the COG was unable to destroy their bodies. Due to the ecological effect the shells were having on the environment, the COG issued all Locust bodies to be relocated into underground facilities to act as burial sites. In 42 A.E., after hibernating for twenty-five years, the Locust reemerged as Scions and created the Swarm.

History

Prelude

"You see, what you don’t realize – what none of you realize – is that my children will never die. They have been designed to withstand generational conflict. They may withdraw, they may hibernate, but they will always return. We have seen to that."

—Dr. Niles Samson

During the mid-Pendulum Wars, Dr. Niles Samson created the Locust by combining the embryonic stem cells of Myrrah, a young woman born with a genetic immunity to Imulsion, with Sire DNA, former human children ill with Rustlung and mutated by experiments involving the genetic material of Hollow creatures. Samson's work began as an effort to cure children ill with Rustlung, but it grew in an attempt to evolve the human race. In order to ensure the survival of the Locust, Samson genetically designed the Locust with the ability to evolve and adapt. Should their environment drastically change, the Locust's DNA would allow them to hibernate and change to withstand generational conflict.

Locust War

Locust cells expelling the Imulsion from within.

The Locust Horde emerged after the end of the Pendulum Wars and waged a genocidal conflict against humanity in order to escape from the Lambent, living beings infected with Imulsion. In 14 A.E., the Imulsion rose to the surface due to the sinking of Jacinto City, causing the Lambent Pandemic. Professor Adam Fenix constructed the Imulsion Countermeasure Weapon. After nearly twenty years of trying to find a safe solution to cure Lambency, Professor Fenix realized the only solution was to destroy all living cells colonized by Imulsion at a certain level of radiation. The Imulsion countermeasure would be able to send a radiation-pulse wave across Sera and destroy all Imulsion and Lambent lifeforms. Queen Myrrah and the Locust feared this because their genetics inherently contained Imulsion.

A Locust Drone crystallizing.

In 17 A.E., Professor Fenix activated the Imulsion countermeasure, resulting in Imulsion-colonized cells and Lambent organisms being vaporized. The Locust collapsed and appeared to have been killed by the radiation wave. However, the Imulsion countermeasure simply triggered their genetic response to evolve. As they collapsed into a hibernation, their cells expelled the Imulsion from their DNA, which broke through their flesh and crystallized, forming a crystalline structure that was impenetrable. Due to the impossibility of destroying the shells, the reformed Coalition of Ordered Governments ordered the thousands of Locust and Hollow creature shells to be disposed of in numerous ad-hoc burial sites such as abandoned mines, trenches, craters, and other facilities underground.

Swarm Invasion

"All this time. The Locust weren't dead. They were cocooned. Transforming."

—Kait Diaz after encountering a Locust Scion.

JD Fenix inspecting a Locust shell.

At some point during 42 A.E., many of the presumed dead Locust and Hollow creatures began reviving and breaking out of their shells, precipitating the rise of the Swarm. The burial sites were transformed into Hives, which connected the members of the Swarm and were used to gather humans for podding and transformation into Drones. The original Locust, such as Scions and Swarmaks, had the remnants of the shell crystals erupting from their skin still remain.

For the Scions and Swarmaks, the crystal remnants acted as natural armor. Wardens were nearly indestructible due to most of their bodies being covered in the Imulsion shards. Swarmaks and their guns were also protected, but large, visible blisters made them vulnerable to attacks. After Reyna Diaz became their new Queen, the Swarm began to use the Imulsion shards as weapons. The Claw Light Machine Gun and Breaker Mace used the Imulsion crystal shards as melee weapons.

Appearances

• Gears of War 4 (First appearance)
• Gears 5
• Gears: Hivebusters
• Hivebusters

Behind the Scenes

A crystal shard from a Locust Shell.

• Delmont Walker mentions that if a diamond is shot at the Locust Shell, the diamond will shatter.
• Despite the Imulsion Countermeasure affecting all members of the Locust and Hollow creatures, the only species known to have emerged from the crystal shells are Drones and Brumaks, turned into Scions and Swarmaks.
• The Locust's crystallization was a reaction to Niles Samson's evolutionary trait instilled in the Locust to ensure generational survival, which was triggered by the Imulsion countermeasure's radiation wave. The difficulty in treating Lambency without harming the Locust is similar to the difficulty in treating real-world fungal infections in humans, because humans share around 50% the same DNA as fungi. The Locust, through their ancestry and environment, shared DNA with Imulsion. Creating any countermeasure would harm them, and would've resulted in their deaths had it not been for Samson's genetic insurance of their survival.
• Turritopsis dohrnii, otherwise known as the "immortal jellyfish", are able to reconstruct themselves after being physically damaged or experiencing stresses such as starvation, sudden temperature change, or reduction of salinity. They shrink in on themselves instead of dying, reabsorbing their tentacles and losing the ability to swim. They settle on the seafloor as a blob-like cyst. Over the next 24-36 hours, this blob develops into a new polyp - the jellyfish's previous life stage - and after maturing, medusae bud off. It's possible that a natural species on Sera has these same properties, and Niles Samson used their genetics to help create the Locust, as he admitted to have designed them with a biological mechanism capable of surviving through hibernation and forced evolution.
• The Locust shells strongly resemble vivianite, a mineral that grows an impenetrable shell on dead bodies. When a body is buried somewhere waterlogged, lacking in oxygen, and loaded with iron, the phosphate leaking from their decaying body can combine with the iron and water to form the vivianite.